Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia:Manual of Style
These are the guidelines by which we form our articles. They will help explain how and why the Wikia has its own particular style of doing things. Language and Spellings This Wikia uses British spellings, grammar rules, and terminology, in keeping with the original Railway Series and television show being British. As such, words such as "humor" and "favorite" are spelt with an "extra U" to be: "humour" and "favourite". The term "trucks" is used instead of "freight cars". A car's "license plate" would be a "registration plate" or a "number plate". Etc. Also another thing is that we should use a little more professional terms, like "last" should be "final". Names People are called differently in the UK and US version. For instance, "Sir Topham Hatt" is "The Fat Controller" in the UK. In this case we use the US name not the UK as it is more specific who it is. Establishing Roles After a list of characters on the episode page, some are followed by either, "(does not speak)", "(cameo)", "(mentioned)", or "(not seen)". In the past, there has been some confusion as to what this means. A "cameo" appearance is a minor appearance where a character is seen, but doesn't speak nor is it referred to. A "does not speak" role is where a character appears and is referred to by name by either the narrator or another character. When a character does not physically appear, but is mentioned by a character or the narrator, that is classified as a "mentioned" role. The "not seen" tag is most often used for books. This is when a character speaks, but isn't seen in any of the illustrations. A speaking role is, obviously, when a character actually speaks. In the CGI television series, anything that requires a voice actor is generally viewed as a speaking role, however there are some exceptions to this rule (Alicia Botti's role in James in the Dark for example). If any other confusions occur, please notify an admin or leave a message to the relevant talk pages. Galleries Galleries should have no borders and should be in the "center" position. When adding images make sure "File:" goes infront of each one. Edit Summaries Providing an edit summary is not essential, but it does make an admin's job easier to review your changes. Some things you may think are right which an admin does not, so use the edit summary to explain why you changed an article. If an edit is reverted multiple times by an admin, don't keep adding it back as that could earn you one or more "strikes". What you should do is explain, in detail, the changes on the relevant talk pages. Please make an effort to read edit summaries as well, because an admin may be giving you warning and telling you to stop making a particular edit. The Stub Template If a page is just a few lines of text and some images, then it's a stub. If the page has five or more lines of text, images, and another template, then it's NOT a stub. Categories All pages need categories, but not every category goes on every page. As an example the "Railway" categories don't go on pages dedicated to locations. Also, "Image" categories only go on image pages. See Also * Thomas The Tank Engine Wiki Constitution Category:Community